CONSUMER activism prevailed once more in the UK in October when British Airways (BA) and Lufthansa quietly introduced fully inclusive pricing for bookings made via their UK websites.

Passengers using these sites are now quoted fares that include fees, taxes, fuel levies and other charges from the moment the booking process begins.

Traditionally, airline websites present passengers with flattering net prices, excluding unavoidable extras, until they click through to the final booking page.

“BA launched all-inclusive pricing in the UK in response to market demand and will look at introducing it to other markets in future,” says the airline’s spokesman in SA, Stephen Forbes.

The announcement follows a report from the UK consumer watchdog, the Air Transport Users’ Council, in March, calling on airlines to provide transparency in online bookings.

The practice of bumping up prices with concealed costs and charges that vary between airlines — even on identical routes — was “spiralling out of control”, the council’s chairman, Simon Evans, said at the time.

The organisation welcomed BA and Lufthansa’s all-inclusive prices for UK passengers. The move is expected to put pressure on competing airlines whose add-on fees frequently surpass the cost of the ticket.

While other airlines argue it is difficult to provide all-inclusive fares due to regular fluctuations in charges (for things such as airport fees, fuel surcharges, taxes, currency exchange and insurance), Prinsloo says that in most instances these are known well in advance and can easily be calculated as inclusive fares.

“Even our recently introduced international flights (to Harare and Windhoek) are reflected as all-inclusive fares online, though when we advertise these fares, we exclude international departure taxes because they are almost as much as the fares we offer.

South African Airways’ site takes a little longer to reveal add-ons and the total inclusive price is shown only when flights are actually selected.

Forbes says passengers using BA’s website in SA are also shown “charges upfront and not only on the final quote”. In this case, additional charges are shown as an approximate total in a separate block on the first booking page, headed About Your Fare.

“I believe it is not only important to provide all-inclusive fares upfront but it might be a good idea to provide a breakdown of the fare to show passengers what goes where, in terms of value-added tax, airport taxes, insurance and so on,” Prinsloo says.

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